By James Slater: Although there are still some great, or potentially great, fights to come in 2010, this year will surely go down as one that failed to give boxing fans the fights they really wanted to see, and the last 12 months will be remembered as something of a disappointment as a result.
The one mega-fight we will all miss out on now (for the time being at least) is Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Junior; a fight that would likely shatter all pay-per-view records should it actually get done. We have also lost out on seeing David Haye finally get it on with one of the Klitschko brothers. Also, 2010 could have done with a Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez III – certainly a better option than what we are getting on November 13th.
Anyway, we do have 2011 to look forward to, and hopefully we will get to see the matches we want. In this article, in playing “Boxing God,” I list the ten fights I would personally like to see in 2011.
Here we go:
1: A no-brainer to start with: I’d make the aforementioned Pac-Man-Mayweather fight. Simply put, it will be a travesty if this fight doesn’t get made. Perhaps an even bigger fight now, in light of “Money’s” highly controversial homemade video (you know the one!), this welterweight match-up would have the entire world tuning in!
2: Haye Vs. either Klitschko! Sure, this too, is an obvious choice, but how could I leave it off such a list? When we remember that Haye should have met Wladimir Klitscho LAST JUNE, it goes to show how long we have been waiting. Can Haye, with his blend of speed, youth and raw power test either Wladimir or Vitali as no-one else has in years? Or is “The Hayemaker” a better talker than he is fighter, at least at this level? If I was in charge, we would find out next year!
3: Chris Arreola Vs. David Tua. Another heavyweight rumble, and this one a fight with a 50-50 look about it. Both guys can bang, both guys love to get in close and go to war, and both guys are not that hard to hit. Add it all up, and “The Nightmare Vs. The Tuaman” would make one helluva battle! A good case could be made for either slugger winning, and that’s another reason I would make this fight a go for next year.
4: Kendall Holt Vs. Ricardo Torres III. Remember the first two fights these light-welterweights gave us? Both were full of action, both were controversy-filled and both fights delighted the fans. All tied up at 1-1, the American and the Puerto Rican have to meet again to decide who is superior. Sure, neither fighter may be quite what they were back when they were slinging that furious leather in their 61-second war back in 2008, but each man would rise to the occasion if the rubber-match were made.
5: Enzo Maccarinelli-Ola Afolabi II. Not all the fights I’d make are of the big-fight variety. I’d make this rematch to see if “Big Macc’s” claims of being less than ready for the first fight, won by Afolabi in the 9th-round, were genuine. Afolabi all but vanished after his subsequent points loss to Marco Huck, while Maccarinelli has regrouped and won some fights in quick and impressive fashion. Would the Welshman get revenge over the British-born Afolabi, or would “Kryptonite’s” bag of tricks allow him to win again? I’d make the fight so as to find out.
6: James Toney-Antonio Tarver. I’d make this fight, up at heavyweight, to see which forty-something has the most left. Both guys are faded but insist on boxing on, and if matched correctly, both future Hall of Famers can still look good. This is such a match-up. Both men have some of the classiest moves in the sport, and both have a superb boxing brain. I’d love to see who wins in this battle of wits. Also, the pre-fight build-up, with all the trash-talking, would be great fun!
7: Paul Williams Vs. Kelly Pavlik. Another fight that got away from us, this middleweight fight wouldn’t be as big now that both men have lost/struggled with Sergio Martinez, but the fireworks would still fly in a major way if the two exciting warriors met. Both men chuck a bunch of punches in each and every round of each and every fight (barring “The Ghost’s” shocking loss to Bernard Hopkins), and this would not change if they met each other. Both men are due back in the ring in November, after that they would clash – if I was in charge!
8: Nonito Donaire Vs. Vic Darchinyan II. This fight was supposed to have happened months ago. And seeing as how “The Filipino Flash” flattened “The Raging Bull” as long ago as July of 2007, it’s a cinch they should have met again by now. Was Donaire’s 5th-round win the fluke Darchinyan claims? Or does the younger, quicker fighter have the Armenian’s number? In an effort to prove who is superior, both men would engage in all-out war in the rematch!
9: Lucian Bute Vs. the winner of Super-Six – whoever it is! Is Bute, the IBF 168-pound champion, the best super-middleweight in the world? Many fans think so, and what better way would there be for “Le Tombeur” to prove it that by defeating the winner of the Boxing Classic tournament? Whether it’s Andre Ward, Andre Dirrell, Carl Froch or Arthur Abraham who emerges as the victor of the tourney, Bute would have a great chance of defeating either of them.
10: Timothy Bradley Vs. Amir Khan. The fight to decide the best light-welterweight out there? Maybe. Though Bradley is currently working on getting a fight with the also-unbeaten Devon Alexander (a good fight in it’s own right), I’d rather see “Desert Storm” get it on with the blazingly-fast Khan. Bradley, a man willing to face all the best fighters, feels he is faster than Khan and that he is an all-round better and smarter fighter. I want to see if he is right. This one would be a boxing master class – one that would also have a real chance of exploding into a fire fight at any point!